The crafty people over at A Beautiful Mess just posted a tutorial about how to transform an old book into a clutch. As longtime readers of the site know, I always feel a sense of mourning for the loss of any book (no matter how terrible or tattered), but—as luck would have it—their sample book happens to be the perfect literary victim...

I have a soft spot for Tomu Ohmi's 1970s-Harlequin-novel-meets-Twilight manga Midnight Secretary, so I was happy to hear a rumor that another of Ohmi's works, Anata ni Hana o Sasagemashō, will soon be licensed. Nobody seems to have confirmed this, but I decided to read and review the series anyway, just in case...

Beginning on January 21st (my birthday!), the DC Public Library is launching a 10-day-long series of events called "Orwellian America? Government Transparency and Personal Privacy in the Digital Age". The program will kick off with a live-streamed marathon reading of George Orwell's novel 1984, and...

Lurlene McDaniel's novels The Year of Luminous Love and The Year of Chasing Dreams boast more melodrama than a Mexican telenovela. These books have everything: natural disasters! Forbidden love! Lingering illnesses! Birth secrets! Personally, I felt like I was trapped in an interminable game of “Pin the tail on the soap opera cliché”, but...

This week's Book Giveaway is a twofer: Lurlene McDaniel's The Year of Luminous Love and its companion novel, The Year of Chasing Dreams. These have been collecting dust on the ol' To-Be-Read shelf for quite a while, but I've been hesitant about actually opening them—the cover art and titles read a little ABC Family-meets-Nicholas Sparks to me, and that's not really my kind of thing...

The BBC recently posted a bunch of casting news about Andrew Davies's upcoming adaptation of War and Peace. Davies is best known for his widely beloved 1995 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, but his record of thoughtful literary adaptations is inconsistent, and I have some biiiiig concerns about his take on War and Peace...

P.G. Wodehouse's short story collection Blandings Castle is divided between six stories set at Blandings, the country estate of the ninth Earl of Elmsworth, one story about Bertie Wooster inamorata Bobbie Wickham, and five stories about the Mulliners of Hollywood. The Mulliner and Wickham stories have a little bite to them, but the Blandings section represents Wodehouse at his most shamelessly soothing...

Let's ease into 2015, shall we? In the interest of kicking off the new year with a little comfort reading, this week's Book Giveaway is Blandings Castle, a collection of non-Jeeves-and-Wooster short stories by P.G. Wodehouse. A full review will follow shortly, but here's a spoiler: it's Wodehouse at his most Wodehousian...

Before we take off for the rest of the week, I've put together a short list of holiday-themed book recommendations for a variety of tastes. (Never say I'm not here for you, dear readers—this list covers the holiday mood from schmaltzy to murderous.) And another tip: if you need to visit a bookstore, don't go until about an hour before closing on Christmas Eve. Apart from a handful of relatively mellow dad-types wandering around—guys who do 100% of their Christmas shopping between...

After reading Stacey Jay's latest novel, I decided it was time to give Lauren Kate another shot. I've complained about Kate's writing before, but Jay's book left me feeling hopeful. Contrary to some previously-held fears, YA writers can improve over time... but, alas, Kate does not seem to be one of them. Actually, I'm worried her books may be getting worse...

This week we're giving away a copy of Lauren Kate's Waterfall, the sequel to last year's Teardrop, which we complained about at length here. A full review will follow later today, but (SPOILER) we didn't like Waterfall, either, so we strongly encourage our readers to enter this drawing and pick up this book for the only worthwhile price: free...

Also on NPR: a thrilling account of a literary-award beatdown! (Not really.) Anyway, Australia's top book prize, the Prime Minister's Literary Award, was given out last week, and there were a pair of winners in the fiction category...

According to NPR, the BBC is planning to adapt two more of J.K. Rowling's novels for television: The Cuckoo's Calling and The Silkworm. Rowling wrote both books under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith, and...

Stacey Jay's first twonovels had plot holes the size of the Grand Canyon, and my hopes for her future efforts were not high. Her third book—a sci-fi retelling of Beauty and the Beast—was much more successful, and her latest effort...

Hmm. It seems the U.K.'s Kobo e-reader service keeps track of both what books people buy, and what books they actually finish. I'm obviously not surprised to learn that people are much better about finishing romance novels than they are high-profile tearjerkers about cancer patients or missing kids, but I am a little taken aback to realize that so many people make...

First up: I know this cover was decided on long before I complained about the overly cutesy packaging featured on the previous two volumes in this series, but I'm taking credit for this eye-popping image anyway. Thanks, Oni Press! And don't worry: that little arsonist is adorable. I'm sure the kids will still want to read alllll about her...

...there's going to be an anime version of Rin-ne! Not that I really had any doubt (almost all of Takahashi's work has been animated, and most of it has been wildly successful), but I hadn't heard any details until recently...

I have spent the past few days wondering how to describe Rumiko Takahashi's Ranma ½ without making it sound like a 36-volume-long fever dream, and I've finally decided it's an impossible task. Just... bear with me, okay?

This week's Book Giveaway is Viz Media's 2-in-1 edition of the first two volumes of Rumiko Takahashi's classic manga Ranma 1/2. We recently featured this series as part of our 2014 Holiday Gift Guide, and trust me: winning a free copy would make an even better holiday gift for yourself...

There's an interesting article in The New York Times about a decision by the Swedish national broadcaster to edit out two scenes in a newly-restored DVD version of the 1969 TV series Pippi Longstocking...

Obviously hoping to milk a little more money from the Game of Thrones cash cow, George R.R. Martin has released a new edition of his 1980 children's novella The Ice Dragon, now featuring illustrations by Spanish artist Luis Royo. The story is set in the same world as Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire books, it's apparently targeted at readers aged 12 to 17, and costs $14.99...

Now That You're Here, the debut novel from Amy K. Nichols, has an absolutely gorgeous cover and an intriguing premise. Sadly, the story never quite lives up to the promise of either cover or premise, but it's only the first installment of a two-book series, and I think things might improve...

This week's Book Giveaway is a copy of Amy K. Nichols's debut novel Now That You're Here, despite the fact that it involves parallel universes and will almost certainly lead to a lot of grousing from Nathan about iffy science. (To which I say: at least it's not time travel.) The book won't be released until next week, so...